CHAPTERS OF THE BOOK

81-108: Questions and Answers

81- Is a system practiced by the majority always right?

The conventional wisdom of societies that are far removed from Allah's religion holds that the majority is always right. Yet this is a totally wrong deduction. Allah has informed us in the Qur'an that, "Most people will not become believers..."(Surah Yusuf, 103) and He has stated at other points in His verses that those who follow the unbelieving majority will also be the losers.

If you obeyed most of those on earth, they would misguide you from Allah's Way. They follow nothing but conjecture. They are only guessing. (Surat al-An'am, 116)

From the foregoing, we understand that in every age the believers will be in the minority, and those standing apart from Allah's religion will be in the majority. This situation will increase the value of those who believe in Allah and who live away from the "religion of the ignorant" many times over.

82- What does one have to do to renounce "the religion of the ignorant"?

The way to be saved from this system built on the denial of Allah is, first and foremost, to seek the approval of Allah alone and to try to strictly practice the morals and the way of life He presents to us in the Qur'an. One who patterns his entire life on the guidance of the verses of the Qur'an automatically distances himself from the bad morality and the disagreeable modes of behaviour of a society marred by ignorance of religion.

83- What is the difference between wisdom and intelligence?

Wisdom is an important quality possessed only by believers. However, there is a great difference between the concept of wisdom as it commonly figures in society and the wisdom entailed by living by the moral values of the Qur'an. The wisdom referred to in the Qur'an is a concept totally different from intelligence. Intelligence is the brain capacity a human being biologically possesses. Intelligence neither increases nor decreases. Wisdom, on the other hand, is granted to believers, who are pious and who fear Allah, as a great blessing. The level of wisdom of the individual increases in parallel with his piety.

The primary characteristics of a man of wisdom is his fearing Allah and observing his duty to Him, following his conscience all the time, evaluating everything he sees according to the Qur'an and seeking Allah's approval every moment. No individual, be he the most intelligent, most knowledgeable and most intellectual person on earth, will possess "wisdom" if he lacks these qualities, and, lacking the ability to understand, he will not be able to see many truths. Allah has described what damage is done by a lack of wisdom:

The worst of beasts in Allah's Sight are the deaf and dumb who do not use their reason. (Surat al-Anfal, 22)

A man of wisdom also has vision. He makes correct and proper decisions. Wisdom enables him to have a grasp of the essence of events and to see the inner truth of things.

84- What are the factors clouding man's wisdom?

What vitiates a man's heart and mind are his ambitions and selfish desires. For example, fears about the future, jealousy, strong obsessions felt for worldly things, and romanticism so preoccupy people that they are prevented from thinking about the really important things, such as the greatness of Allah and the perfection in His creation. Allah has advised us that success will be possible only by breaking free from the obsessions of the self:

… It is the people who are safeguarded from the avarice of their own selves who are successful. (Surat al-Hashr, 9)

85- It is stated in the Qur'an that Allah does not like those who are boastful. What is 'being boastful' according the Qur'an?

According to the Qur'an, the foremost characteristic of a person who is boastful is his forgetting that everything he owns has been given to him by Allah, and in his imagined and ignorant superiority, boasting about these things. An important misconception on this subject is thinking of only extreme persons as those who forget Allah and boast arrogantly. In fact, a person is boastful if he thinks that his beauty is of his own making, if he is proud of his successes, if, thinking he is adequate, he never asks himself the question: "Can I be more conscientious?", and if he behaves arrogantly and conceitedly. Therefore, every individual should seriously avoid such misconduct and should realize that he is in need and impotent against Allah and that Allah may take everything away from him if He so wills. Allah has told us what the ultimate fate of such people will be:

When it is said to him, "Fear Allah," he is seized by pride which drives him to wrongdoing. Hell will be enough for him! What an evil resting-place! (Surat al-Baqara, 206)

86- What should a humble person be like according to the morals of the Qur'an?

A humble person, as opposed to a boastful person, knows that everything he owns is given to him by Allah either as a blessing or as a trial. He is aware that as a human being, he is impotent and needy and that he does not have the power to do anything unless Allah so wills. Therefore, he always turns to Allah and thanks Him for every blessing. Allah has praised the humble attitude of the believers:

The servants of the All-Merciful are those who walk modestly on the earth... (Surat al-Furqan, 63)

87- Will I be responsible for my intentions?

Every individual is responsible for his intentions. Allah makes this clear when He says: "… He will take you to task for the intention in your hearts have made…"(Surat al-Baqara, 225) In every act, the intention must be to gain Allah's approval. An act may seem to be good but, if the intention behind it is to gain the approval of others, or some other worldly benefit, this act will not be acceptable in the Sight of Allah.

88- What is meant by "the life of this world is the enjoyment of delusion"?

One of the most serious, but largely unacknowledged misconceptions, is the supposition that the life of this world is the only real life for human beings. In fact, the world is a temporary place created by Allah to test man. What is real is the life after death. Therefore, everything that charms people and preoccupies them in the fleeting and short-lived existence of this world is an "enjoyment of delusion". As stated in the following verse, Allah warns people against this deception, reminding them that the real, beautiful abode is in the Presence of Allah: "To mankind the objects of worldly appetites are painted in glowing colours: women and children, and heaped-up mounds of gold and silver, and horses with fine markings, and livestock and fertile farmland. All that is merely the enjoyment of the life of this world. Far better is the return to Allah. "(Surah Al 'Imran, 14) .

89- What are the Divine reasons (hiqmat) for the weaknesses people have?

There are many physical drawbacks afflicting man. First of all, man has to keep his body and his surroundings clean and constantly look after them. The time he spares for this care takes up a large part of his life. However, no matter how much care he takes or how much cleaning he does, the effect is only temporary. A person who brushes his teeth will find that in just one hour his teeth a will feel as if he had never cleaned them. Somebody who takes a bath in the summer will feel as if he never had taken a bath at all just a couple of hours later.

What is important to understand here is that such physical drawbacks have a specific purpose. These are not inherent weaknesses but have been specially created. In the same way, old age and the changes that come along with it are also weaknesses devised by Allah to make people think about the temporary nature of human life, avoid becoming attached to this world, which is full of defects, and aim at the hereafter which is the "real abode". Allah has advised in the Qur'an that the best objective for man is the hereafter:

The life of this world is nothing but a game and a diversion. The hereafter is better for those who are pious. So will you not use your reason? (Surat al-An'am, 32)

90- What is the Divine reason for mentioning former nations in the Qur'an?

Allah states in the Qur'an that He has shown the right way to all the nations that have existed throughout the ages and that He has reminded them through His prophets that the world is temporary and that the real abode is the hereafter. Yet, again it is revealed in the Qur'an that most of the people refused to do anything except disbelieve and did not listen to the call of the prophets. Allah, therefore, meted out a harsh punishment to them from unexpected quarters and wiped some of them off the face of the earth.

One of the most important reasons why past nations are mentioned in the Qur'an is to ensure that the people of today avoid falling into the same error. Assessing the disasters that befell past nations and their archaeological remains merely as historical data without learning any lessons from them would be very wrong. Allah ordered us to take guidance from the calamities that befell these nations:

How many generations far greater in prowess have We destroyed before them! They scoured many lands, but did they find any way of escape? There is a reminder in this for anyone who has a heart, or who listens well, having seen the evidence. (Surah Qaf, 36-37)

91-For what purposes were the jinn created?

Allah refers to the existence of jinn in many verses. Jinn, too, are beings that are created by Allah to worship Him. They live in a different dimension from that of man. As related in certain verses, people cannot see them, but they can see people. A wrong but widespread belief holds that jinn can supply information about the future. In the Qur'an, however, it is stated that they have no such ability. Also, we are told in the scriptures that the jinn are also held responsible for the safeguarding of the Qur'an. Allah states that the jinn were created with the same purpose as people:

I only created the jinn and man to worship Me. (Surat adh- Dhariyat, 56)

92- What kind of beings are angels?

Angels are beings who never err in their duty to Allah and live in a different dimension from that of human beings. Unlike people, angels are not created to be tested. Allah created them as faultless beings. Allah has assigned each one of them different tasks which they perform with precision. Gabriel has the duty of communicating the revelations of Allah to His prophets. There are writer angels on either side of every individual who write down everything he does. There are angels appointed to take a man's soul at the time of death. And there are the demons of Hell, angels who are responsible for making sure that the inmates of Hell suffer the greatest punishment.

Allah states that angels are servants to Him:

Christ would never disdain to be a servant to Allah, nor would the angels near to Him... (Surat an-Nisa, 172)

Allah bears witness that there is no Deity but Him, as do the angels and the sages. He is the Executor of justice. There is no Deity but Him, the Almighty, the All-Wise. (Surah Al 'Imran, 18)

93- How can we define time?

Time can be defined as a method by which one moment is compared to another. Let us explain this with an example. For instance, if anyone taps an object, he hears a particular sound. When he taps the same object five minutes later, he hears another sound. He perceives at that point that there is an interval between the first sound and the second and he calls this interval time.

Yet at the time he hears the second sound, the first sound he heard is no more than a figment of his imagination. He formulates the concept of "time" by comparing the moment in which he lives with what he has stored in his memory. If this comparison is not made, there can be no concept of time.

94- What does the relativity of time mean?

As mentioned above, time is apprehended through a comparison made between two events. However, this is a conclusion reached in the brain and is relative. This is plainly experienced in dreams. Although what we see in our dreams seems to last for hours, it lasts, in fact, for only a few minutes, or even a few seconds. Many verses of the Qur'an quote various examples on this subject. Some verses indicate that people perceive time differently and that sometimes they can perceive a very short period as a very lengthy one. The following verse in which Allah addresses the wrongdoers is an example:

He will say, 'How many years did you tarry on the earth?' They will say, 'We tarried there for a day or part of a day. Ask those able to count!' He will say, 'You only tarried there for a little while, if you but knew it! (Surat al-Muminun, 112-114)

95- What is destiny?

We have created all things in due measure. Our command is only one word, like the blinking of an eye. (Surat al-Qamar, 49-50)

Destiny is Allah's apprehension of all events past or future as if they were "a single moment." Most people question how Allah can already have knowledge of events that have not yet been experienced, and this leads to their failing to understand the authenticity of destiny. However, "events not yet experienced" are only so for us. Allah is unfettered by time or space, for He Himself has created them. There is no concept of time in the Presence of Allah. For this reason, past, future, and present are all the same to Him; for Him, everything has already taken place and is finished.

96- People cannot change the destiny determined by Allah.

There is a distorted understanding of destiny which is prevalent in our society. For instance, people make superficial statements about a patient who returns from death's door, such as "he defeated his destiny". No one is able to change his destiny. The person who returned from death's door, didn't die precisely because he was destined not to die at that time. It is, ironically, the destiny of those people who deceive themselves by saying "I defeated my destiny" that they should say so and maintain such a mindset.

Destiny is the eternal knowledge of Allah and for Allah, Who perceives time as a single moment and Who prevails over the whole of time and space; everything is determined and finished as a matter of destiny. We also understand from what He relates in the Qur'an that time is one for Allah: occurrences that are going to take place after our death (from our point of view) are related in the Qur'an as past events already experienced. Allah is unfettered by the relative time frame in which we are confined. Allah has willed these things in timelessness: people have already performed them and all these events have been lived through and are at an end.

97- How will resurrection come about?

Allah is All-powerful and He is the Creator of every being. No doubt, Allah, Who brought everything into being out of nothing, Who created man from a single drop of fluid, has the power to create all of them once again in a similar way. Allah, castigating the disbelievers, answers this question in the Qur'an:

That (Hell) is their repayment for rejecting Our Signs and saying, 'What, when we are bones and crumbled dust, will we then be raised up as a new creation?' Do they not see that Allah, Who created the heavens and earth, has the power to create the like of them, and has appointed fixed terms for them of which there is no doubt? But the wrongdoers still persist in unbelief. (Surat al-Isra, 98-99)

98- Why isn't the materialistic philosophy valid?

Materialist philosophy is a false system of thought that holds that everything is composed of matter, that the universe was not created, but has existed since time immemorial and will continue to exist for all eternity.

However, the scientific developments of the last century have proven that the claims of this philosophy are totally invalid. First of all, it has been accepted by the scientific community that the universe had a beginning, it was created from nothing and will have an end just as it was proclaimed in the Qur'an 1400 years ago. Later on, it was discovered by science that what we call "matter" is a "collection of perceptions," the original of which we can never reach. It was the rebuttal of these two basic claims of the materialist philosophy which ultimately invalidated it.

99- How did the universe come into being?

He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth… (Surat al-An'am, 101)

Today, scientists have reached a consensus that the universe came into being out of nothing—suddenly, with a great explosion called the Big Bang. Compelling evidence which caused the Big Bang Theory to be inevitably accepted is as follows:

Expansion of the universe: In 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered that all heavenly objects move away from each other, which is evidence that the universe constantly expands. This is conclusive proof that the universe came into being by the explosion of a single point (the Big Bang).

Cosmic Background Radiation: Since the universe emerged as a result of an explosion, there had to be some radiation left over from this explosion and this radiation should have pervaded the entire universe uniformly. Unsurprisingly, this radiation was found in 1965. Subsequently its existence was conclusively confirmed with the help of satellites.

The hydrogen-helium ratio in the universe: Another significant place of evidence for the Big Bang is the amount of hydrogen and helium gases in space. In the latest calculations, it was understood that the hydrogen-helium concentration in the universe complied with the theoretical calculations of the hydrogen-helium concentration remaining from the Big Bang. If the universe had no beginning and if it had existed forever, its hydrogen constituent should have been completely consumed and converted to helium.

The Big Bang Theory, which implies that the universe came into being out of nothing, meaning that it was created, ultimately destroyed the claim of the materialist philosophy that the universe had always existed and would always exist.

100- How do materialists explain the human spirit?

Materialists who imagine that everything consists of matter, are never able to explain the human spirit and consciousness. As we know, the building blocks of everything on the earth, including the human body, are the atoms. This means that all beings, living or non-living, are formed by the combination of atoms in different forms. This is what troubles materialists most.

Man is a conscious being with willpower, who can think, speak, reason, judge and comprehend. It is impossible for such a being to have emerged out of random coincidences by the spontaneous combination of unconscious atoms as materialists claim. It is impossible for atoms that are not able to think, reason, and judge to come together with a sudden decision to form the human spirit. Therefore, materialists have no explanation for the spirit man possesses.

101- What does the theory of evolution claim?

The theory of evolution claims that life is formed by chance. According to this unscientific claim, lifeless and unconscious atoms came together to form the cell and then they somehow formed other living things, including man. Let us formulate an "experiment" on this subject under the heading of "Darwinian formula" and let us examine on the behalf of evolutionists what they really claim without their actually having spelled it out:

Let evolutionists put plenty of materials present in the composition of living beings into big barrels. Moreover, let them add to these barrels any form of matter that does not exist under normal conditions, but which they may think is necessary. Let them add to this mixture as many amino acids—which have no possibility of forming under natural conditions–and as many proteins–a single one of which has a formation probability of one in 10 to the power of 950—as they like. Let them expose these mixtures to as much heat and moisture as they see fit and then let them stir these with whatever technologically developed device they choose. Let them wait in turn beside these barrels for billions, or even trillions of years. No matter what they do, they cannot produce from these barrels a human being. They cannot produce tigers, lions, ants, roses, lilies, magnolias, pheasants, woodpeckers, whales, kangaroos, horses, parrots, bananas, oranges, olives, pomegranates, grapes and millions of other living beings such as these. Indeed, they will not be able to obtain even a single cell of any one of them.

102- Do evolutionists' claims about the formation of life have any validity?

No. The claims of evolutionists holding that living beings formed by coincidence is not valid. No evolutionary process ever took place. Still, let us explain the evidence on the invalidity of the theory for those who are insistent on the subject. Evolutionists have a few classical claims which are listed below:

They claim that new living species form by natural selection and mutation.

It is impossible for the mechanism of natural selection, which is based on the idea that living beings unfitted to their habitat will become extinct, while the fit ones will survive and cause a new species to emerge. Such a mechanism only results in the selection of existing species yet never produces a new species. Mutations, on the other hand, only causes damage in the DNA. The effect of mutations is harmful. It is not possible for them to cause a new species to be formed.

They allege that the living beings came out of the sea and on to the land.

It is impossible for a sea-dwelling living being to emerge from the sea and start living on the land, because a living being could not of its own transform itself into a totally different creature by modifying its body weight, body temperature, its system of body water usage, its kidney structure, respiration system and way of life.

They claim that birds evolved from reptiles.

This is not possible either because;

It is impossible for bird wings to be formed by the modification of the scales of reptiles.

The lungs of birds function in a totally different way from those of land-dwelling animals.

The bones of birds that are an important factor in birds' ability to fly are lighter than those of land-dwelling animals.

The muscular-skeletal systems of birds and reptiles are totally different from each other.

They allege that mammals evolved from reptiles.

This, too, is a groundless claim, because the bodies of reptiles are covered with scales, they are cold blooded and they reproduce by laying eggs. Mammals, on the other hand, are warm blooded, their bodies are covered with hair and they reproduce by giving birth to their offspring.

103- What are the other pieces of evidence that refute evolution?

It is possible to delve into the details of many of these pieces of evidence, but the principal ones are the following:

First of all, contemporary science has conclusively proved that animate matter cannot emerge from inanimate matter.

So far, not a single transitional intermediate form of fossil has been unearthed to support the evolutionist claim that living beings have evolved from each other. Although millions of fossils belonging to normal species have been found, there is no trace of any half reptile-half bird, half fish-half reptile or half ape-half human creatures. The 250 million fossils unearthed to date prove that evolution never happened, that living things are not descended from a common ancestor and that species do not turn into one another. The fact revealed by the fossil record is that all species are created with all the characteristics they possess and never change for so long as they survive.

Proteins, which are the building blocks of living beings, cannot develop by coincidence. The probability of the chance formation of a protein with 500 amino acids is one in 10 to the power of 950. In short, such a possibility, which is incomprehensible to the human mind, has "0" probability of realization.

104- How does the theory of evolution explain the sudden emergence of life on earth?

The theory of evolution cannot offer any explanation for the emergence of life on earth.

When terrestrial strata and the fossil record are examined, it is seen that living organisms appeared suddenly. The oldest stratum of the earth in which fossils of living creatures have been found is that of the "Cambrian," which has an estimated age of 520-530 million years. The fossils found in the Cambrian rocks belonged to various complex invertebrate species. Most interestingly, this wide mosaic of living creatures emerged all of a sudden without any pre-existing ancestors. This is why this miraculous event is referred to as the "Cambrian Explosion" in geological literature.

How the earth came to overflow with such a great number of animal species all of a sudden and how these distinct types of species with no common ancestors could have emerged without undergoing any evolutionary period are questions evolutionists can never answer.

105- What are the frauds committed by evolutionists to deceive the public?

The "ape-men" we see in newspapers, magazines, or films are all drawings based on the imagination of evolutionists. Inspired by a single tooth, evolutionists sometimes give shape to features that do not actually leave any fossil traces, such as the structure of the nose and lips, the shape of the hair, the form of the eyebrows, and they prepare illustrations of half ape/half men creatures and even draw false pictures depicting the families and social lives of these creatures. They try to mislead the public by this method.

Evolutionists also "produce" fossils which they are unable to find, whereby they commit fraud. A few of the most famous of these forgeries are the following:

Piltdown man: Evolutionists deceived the world of science by this forgery by attaching the jaw of a recently dead orangutan to a 500-year-old human skull. The teeth were added later in order to make the skull resemble that of a man, and the joints were filed. Then all the pieces were stained with potassium dichromate to make them look old.

Nebraska man: In 1922, evolutionists claimed that a molar tooth fossil, which they unearthed, bore the common characteristics of both man and ape. Extensive scientific research was carried out on this subject and the tooth was called the Nebraska man. Based on this single tooth, reconstructions of the Nebraska Man's head and body were drawn. Moreover, the Nebraska Man was even pictured along with his wife and children, as a whole family in a natural setting. However, in 1927, other parts of the skeleton were found and it was established that the tooth belonged to a wild pig.

106- The "primitive man" concept is an evolutionist nonsense.

There is no such thing as "primitive man". A few of the numerous proofs on this subject are the following:

The human fossil unearthed in Spain in 1995 utterly destroyed the tale of the "evolution of man". The 800,000 year-old human skull fossil unearthed in the Atapuerca Region belongs to the era in which half-ape creatures allegedly existed according to evolutionists, and it is no different from the modern man. This means that there is no difference between the man of 800,000 years ago and the man of today.

A news item published in the New Scientist on March 14th, 1998, titled "Early humans were much smarter than we suspected..." tells us that the humans called Homo Erectus by evolutionists were practicing seamanship 700 thousand years ago. These humans, who had enough knowledge and technology to build a vessel and possessed a culture that made use of sea transport, can hardly be called "primitive."

The 26 thousand year old needle fossils that were unearthed show that the being which the evolutionists call the Neanderthal man, had knowledge of clothing tens of thousands of years ago. This reveals that Neanderthals, who were deliberately pictured as ape-like creatures in false illustrations, were in fact no different from modern man.

107- Can the formation of complex systems in living beings be explained by evolution?

No, it cannot. Complex systems in living beings, like the eye and the ear, which are made up of multiple components, can function only when all its components are intact. For instance, for an eye to see, it is necessary that its approximately 40 components be intact. The eye would not be able to see if any one of these, for instance the eye retina or the tear glands, was missing. The conclusion we must arrive at, therefore, is that all the parts of such systems must have been created simultaneously. This, of course, proves the invalidity of evolution once again.

So, what would it mean if a complex structure were to come into being in a single moment? Unquestionably, the emergence of many components at the same time, at the same place could only be the result of a special creation.

108- Why is the theory of evolution defended so persistently by certain circles although it has no scientific validity whatsoever?

People who disregard the existence of Allah and are reluctant to admit that they are responsible to Him seek a logical justification for their stance and a means of convincing other people to agree with them. Claiming that everything has been formed by chance, they try to make people deny the evident existence of Allah and therefore they are not responsible to anyone.

At this juncture, the theory of evolution serves as a so-called scientific mainstay for nonbeliever philosophies. This is why people, who are obdurate in denying Allah, defend this theory as an ideological and philosophical possibility although it has no scientific validity, and no matter whether they believe that it is right or not.

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